Correlation Between Yoga & Achieving Your Fitness Goals

January 24, 2018

Reaching your fitness goals can be a daunting task, especially if you set high expectations for yourself. Whether you want to lose weight, increase flexibility, or add muscle tone and strength, finding a program you can stick with on a consistent basis can be difficult. Yoga is a popular option for a well-rounded workout routine that allows you the flexibility needed to achieve your personal goals when it comes to your well-being, fitness, and health.

It’s an Incredibly Efficient Workout

Yoga uses muscles from every area of your body, giving you a full-body workout without exhausting one specific set of muscles. By training your arms, legs, and core simultaneously, you can save valuable time from workouts that concentrate on one specific muscle family at a time, like leg or chest day in strength training. This would be beneficial for anyone looking to improve overall muscle tone or build a stronger body in general.

It Improves Your Mental Toughness

Yoga takes a large amount of concentration to hold difficult poses for extended periods of time. Learning to tolerate the limits your body is being pushed to is not only beneficial for improving your overall physical endurance, but also aids in boosting your mental toughness. For those on the path to improved fitness, having mental toughness will give you the perseverance to push through the days that you don’t feel like working out. It will help drive you toward harder goals and greater results. Because when it comes to working out consistently, only those with great mental toughness show up day after day, ready to better their health and body.

It’s Ideal for Active Recovery Days

Even if you’re not a practicing yogi, doing even the most basic of yoga poses on active recovery days can have a huge benefit on your body. If you go hard at the gym or work out at a high aerobic level, your body needs a day off to recover. Most trainers recommend using that day for active recovery, such as intense stretching, going for a swim, or any other low-impact activity that allows the muscles to repair. Yoga would qualify as a perfect active recovery activity and can actually help to repair muscles faster with its combinations of stretching and muscle relaxation. It circulates blood to the area more quickly, allowing for a faster recovery time.

It Increases Flexibility

Improved flexibility may not be a high-ranking goal for your fitness journey, but it can actually help you in a number of ways. Increasing your range of flexibility can help improve your general range of motion. This allows you to sink deeper into movements, pushing your muscles to work harder. With increased muscle recruitment, you’ll have more efficient movements that will give you the results you want in less amount of time. This is a benefit of yoga that even appeals to professional athletes, as greater flexibility can create the smallest edge in an extremely competitive sport.

It Can Save You Money

Yoga is a very cost-friendly option for those looking to reach their fitness goals on a budget. You can research yoga poses online and practice them in the comfort of your own home, no equipment necessary. You can actually perform yoga wherever you feel comfortable, at home, at the beach, or at the park. Although many gyms and private yoga studios offer group classes, you can cut those membership costs by getting a complete yoga session in on your own time at the place of your choosing.

Chances of Injury Are Low

Sports or exercise-related injuries can happen from even the most minor of movements. Athletes across all sports and specialties can rack up a list of different injuries from a number of different causes. However, rarely will you find someone who has accrued and injury from practicing yoga. The slow pace and extended stretching actually do more to help prevent the body from future injury than cause it. Not getting sidelined by an unfortunate injury will keep you on the path to reach whatever fitness goal you hope to achieve.

It Great for Stress Relief and Relaxation

Exercise is general is a great way to relieve stress. Exerting energy in a purposeful way helps to relieve mental and physical tension from the daily grind of everyday life. However, yoga may provide the most benefits when it comes to cleansing the body and mind of outside tension and stressors. With yoga, your ultimate goal is to unite your body and mind, allowing you to be completely in tune with every movement and every breath. It brings a day of hectic meetings or busy errand-running down to a single breath, a single movement. It allows you to fully concentrate on being present while pushing everything else from your mind. This can not only help you to wind down after a chaotic day, it can help in every aspect of your life if you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

Final Words

For those starting out on a new fitness journey, creating realistic goals and milestones will help you achieve your desired results with a little time and willpower. Implementing a fitness program with even the barest amount of yoga can not only lead to an improved overall fitness level, it can provide benefits to your mental health as well. Staying focused and motivated will keep you on the right track to reach your goals and help you to maintain a healthy and fit lifestyle for years to come.

A big shoutout to Amanda for such an amazing insight on the benefits of doing using to achieve your fitness goals! Yoga may seem really easy to some people, but you’d be surprised at how difficult it can be. Don’t count it out when creating your workout routine!

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions in this article belong to the author. No product or event mentioned is being promoted or sponsored. The information contained here is for the sake of general public information and interest.